The popularity of barbecue grills and outdoor cooking apparatuses has increased tremendously over the last twenty-five years. Initially, charcoal barbecue grills having some type of combustible solid fuel were utilized to cook food via radiant and convective heat. More recently, gas barbecue grills which employ one or more gas-fueled burners have been utilized. Such gas barbecue grills generally cook the food via radiant and convective heat. Often, the food to be cooked in both charcoal and gas grills is situated on a grid-like cooking grate having numerous elongated bars and openings. Accordingly, to cook food in such barbecue grills, the radiant and convective heat energy produced from either the solid fuel (e.g., charcoal) or the one or more gas burners passes through the cooking grate in such a manner that the heat is directed at the food.
Furthermore, conventional gas grills generally include a burner assembly adjacent the lower portion of a firebox with a cooking grid supported along the upper edge thereof. Lava rock or some other ancillary conductive member is generally located between the cooking grid and the burner assembly. The lava rock operates as a type of conductive member thereby absorbing the convective heat generated by the burning of the fuel source (e.g., charcoal, wood, gas, etc.), and subsequently assists in providing a more uniform convective heat-emitting means for supplying heat to the food being cooked on the cooking grate. Unfortunately, the heat distribution from such lava rocks, the burners, and/or the fuel source(s) is/are not uniform. Although not limited thereto, such a situation is a common occurrence near the edge of the cooking grid where the amount of heat generated by the fuel source tends to be uneven and/or poorly transmitted. Accordingly, “hot” and “cold” spots develop where the temperature of the heat being supplied to the cooking grate can vary significantly, thereby yielding a cooking grid with inconsistent temperatures. This in turn leads to the uneven cooking of any food material that is placed in a “cold” spot.
Accordingly, there is a need for a cooking grate that operates as a conductive member and which also provides an even, or nearly even, temperature across the entire cooking surface thereof.